By Martin Mulenga (CEO Sibonginkhosi Foundation)
We would like to express our concerns about the rise in the cases of child defilement in last few months in our country. It is indeed disheartening that our men continue such activities with impunity despite the massive sensitization against this evil and the harsh punishment of minimum of 15 years imprisonment that comes with it once arrested.
UTH reported recently that the number of defilement cases being recorded has been on the increase and that now it’s an everyday situation especially among girls between the ages of 12 and 14 years. We are aware that child defilement has been in existence for a lot of years back but with much awareness nowadays, we expect the tread to be going down instead of having an upward gradient.
It is in our view that this evil will not be won through stiffer punishment and sensitization only but also by personal effort and change of mentality by the citizens to stop the activity. This is an evil that has everything to do with myths of cure for some STI and AIDS or Cleansing from some evil spirits of some sort and/or mere lack of self control. We are making an earnest appeal to our men to brash these myth’s away and face reality to say that these acts are wrong and should not be allowed to continue at all.[pullquote]ICHIKU TACHIPALAMA NAMULILO[/pullquote]
We further would like to appeal to our parents and guardians to ensure they are not loose on their children especially when going and coming back from schools. Let’s ensure that our children are escorted and collected at reporting and knocking off times respectively. It is also important that our teachers live up to the trust that people have in them as parents or guardians leave their children in their hands for hours.
Teachers therefore need to find time to explain to the children that they need not to be silent about men touching them in certain ways or even having sex with them but should tell the parents or/ and the teachers about it immediately no matter what even if the abusers give them sweets, money or even threaten them.
We have seen situations where school going children are busy hiking vehicles asking for a lift from strangers.Our children need to be taught to fear people they do not know.We also should be wary not to let our children loose on every relative just because it’s an uncle, cousin or brother because these have been found to be the main culprits seeing that they are trusted.
Once the matter is reported no matter who is evolved, father, uncle, grandfather, friend, brother must be reported to the police so that it acts as a deterrent to other would be perpetrators.
It is also a serious concern to note the number of small girl’s patronizing clubs and taverns and drinking alcohol while implicitly dressed. These are some of the main reasons why you find even big men are being tempted to have carnal knowledge with small girls. We should not let things to chance, Bemba’s say;” ICHIKU TACHIPALAMA NAMULILO”. Girls need not to take themselves to the sacrificial alters they need to respect, keep themselves and concentrate on things that will positively affect their lives not alcohol consumptions and illicit relations with big men all for the love of goodies and money. Parents need to ensure they provide for the needs of their children and avoid too much child bearing if they do not have the capacity to look after them.
We further urge all clubs owners to strictly stop underage patrons in their premises but further we urge the councils not to relent in enforcing the law. We urge religious organizations and business communities to talk against these evils in their congregations during their preaching and meetings so that the message can go across as we need every one to rise up and fight this wrong tooth and nail.
We on the other hand, would like to recommend parents, guardians and everyone who has come out in the open to report to the relevant authority’s and speaks against such a vice.
Firstly its the dressing secondly moral decay
I dnt thnk it has anythng to do wit dressing pipo r jst sick in the head….wat dressing is on a two year old o six mnths old baby that cn mek a man’s peepee go wild they even stop thnkg wit there heads
You are a very sick individual who should be monitored or tagged 24/7 by the US law authorities!!
I think at some extent poor dressing also contributes to the increase of defilement cases in our country. I say so because looking at our traditional cultures, a woman is not allowed to move about half naked in public. Yes, we do have some ceremonies where women do not dress properly but that is meant for ceremonies only and not in public. The problem here in Zambia is that we have become too western such that we have forgoten about our roots. Please tell me, have you ever seen a white man or woman going for plastic surgery to become black? its only us Africans who always want to breech in order to become like whites. Sorry to say this, i do not mean that is what we are but no matter how much you can beautify a monkey it will still remain a monkey. Be proud of who you are and your values.
@ 1 -you are a total i&&&iot!!! have you never heard of grandmothers being raped – is that to do with granny’s dress code??? Zambian men need to start controlling themselves – women can wear what the hell they want to. It is sad that in the 21st century ppl like exhaust blown diffuser should accuse the very victims of defilement – grow up or you will find yourself behind bars for 20 years. As for this article, it very well said, except the part where they say “We urge religious organizations and business communities to talk against these evils in their congregations during their preaching and meetings” – defilement and rape happen IN the church, so really the pastors have no moral right to preach on this issue, especially pentecostal churches.
Like it or not dress code plays a part. miniskirt bam short or what ever if you meet a morally decayed person stuff can happen..Get real
I really agree with Exhaust Blown Diffuser that the bad dressing code in Zambia is a great factor towards these defilements. The route i want to take however is: Improper dressing by elders and not victims who usually happen to be minors is what is being discussed here. Elderly lady folks dress to expose their nudity and perpetrators sadly turn on young ones who happen to easily fall prey. So elders should dress well for the sake of the young ones period! Like it or not, it is all about moral decay in Zambia which triggers a certain group of men to pounce on these girls. Even these 14 years chaps really look big nowadays due to changed living standards and tend to dress like crazy…e.g short uniforms and so forth…
Exhaust blown diffuser,
It’s just moral decay!! No sane man,however illiterate,can rationalize defining a girl young enough to be his daughter or niece!! Stop pretending or defending the fallacy of that seeing a girl who is not yet a woman (physically & emotionally) can arouse a grown man!!!
We need a proper research conducted for now we don’t know!
I agree with you on the need to do a research on this community problem
Exhaust wa itaya pali dressing some men defile their own daughters cn u say its dressing honestly speaking….so for u its lyk u r saying wen u see a baby naked probably the mother is changing the nappy ninshi iwe wa sokonezeka u r carried away u stop thnking wit yo head
May be they are being reported more than in the past.
OK all you guys. I doubt this is any different now to the way it was 40 years ago. Yes utukote would never be raped those days like now but these things were still happening only they were not being reported.
These things were being swept under the carpet years back because “kuti fyaleta umusebanya palupwa.”
I may be wrong though!
Its not good but bana benango nibochentha u can’t tell if they r under age until such happens.dressing can be a contributing factor.maziba fulu panja,its tempting and once our “sick” heads goes deep in thots navau mwana kutali.
Comment 1 is correct after all. Every cretin is these days exposed to some form of pornography and half dressed women. The truth is that some of these these people who see nudity are low casts (or is it outcasts?) who cannot get it from the women they see on the streets or in the videos. They instead apply what they see on innocent, easiest and defenceless children within or outside the home. You konw, the imaginations. If this child is female, then she must have at least …..Wake up guys. This is Africa.
I think the traditional healers must be arrested, bcoz they are the ones telling these men they can be cured, be rich, etc if they sleep with the young girls……..
a real Don is thee who brings out the issue of Traditional Healers, i truly conquer with u, one can not be cured by defiling.
Screen witch doctors,they are the ones prescribing.
I really agree with Exhaust Blown Diffuser that the bad dressing code in Zambia is a great factor towards these defilements. The route i want to take however is: Improper dressing by elders and not victims who usually happen to be minors is what is being discussed here. Elderly lady folks dress to expose their nudity and perpetrators sadly turn on young ones who happen to easily fall prey. So elders should dress well for the sake of the young ones period! Like it or not, it is all about moral decay in Zambia which triggers a certain group of men to pounce on these girls. Even these 14 years chaps really look big nowadays due to changed living standards and tend to dress like crazy…e.g short uniforms and so forth…
people like watching bad films such as pornograph which has become so common and later leave them with corrupt minds morever the state in which some of the defilers commit the bad acts is when under the influence of alchoho which they start taking as early as 06:00hrs hence becoming less productive to the nation .
Child defilement cases are on a rise because of the high number of acquittals in our courts. 95% of cases taken to courts end up in acquittals
thanks for the point you made
There a lot of causal factors for defilements including bad dressing…so do not attack blown exaust diffuser here. However, some are ritual factors and devilish ideologies
Tribalist..gud analysis! Let us nt criticze comment 1 2 much..2 sum extent wat sum of thz fools see whn women ar dressin immoraly triggers their stupid minds thus end up pouncin on th li2 innocent 1s..ths behavior z unacceptable! So in tryin 2 find solutions, let us nt rule out certain possibilities lyk dress code among women..
Maybe we should be talking the improved and more vigilant reporting of theze defilment casez. What with the now abundant media houzes, both print and electronic, cannot agree more with #6.
These cases are not rising, they have always been this way but people are now more open to reporting them.
thanks for that comment.
The increase in child defilement is not due to dressing but male moral decay (SIN) no CONTROL over feelingsbecause even babies are defiled. Before the missionaries brought clothes men and women in this part of the world walked naked but there were defilements so what dressing are you talking about.
As the say goes, there are many ways of killing a rat. we should not say this or that is not correct be it poor dressing or offensive behaviours for both contrubuted to the swelling cases of defilement.
The reason for sin in this is; we are being ruled by ten commandments.
Romans 7 vs 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. For also I did not know lust except the law said, You shall not lust.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of lust. For apart from law sin was dead
Its a medley or hodgepodge of everything including risque dressing but the biggest culprit is moral decadence.What with some zambian women like the one in the news recently being in a love making video? Neither can LT post innocent looking photos of females without some bloggers here making sexually charged comments.A christian nation? I beg to differ.
People its like you all missing out the point here. Poverty is what is causing all this. With this weakening economy, expect the trend to continue rising. And am sure these cases are more rampant in the compounds because thats where poverty hit the most and levels are very high there.
A proper scientific study needs to be done to understand the depth and complexity of this problem. One thing of interest mentioned in the article is that the victims are typically girls aged from 12 to 15. At school, girls in this age-range will be in grades eight to eleven. It is common to find girls in these grades having fully fledged sexual relationships with older men including minibus and taxi drivers. Those that know what happens at schools like Roma Girls in Lusaka and St. Mary’s in Livingstone will attest to this. It is a fact that girls these days are having their sexual (voluntary) debuts at younger and younger ages.
Point!
If only people could make as much as noise the gay issue…what a hypocritical backward society this is!
Pray that Jesus is not coming NOW cause people like this are doomed for destruction. Parents escort your children to school and don’t let them play out of the yards without knowing where they are. And for those of you who trust taxi drivers, mind who you hand over your daughter to. For those who have male servants…never leave your child in their hands. For those who have males in the house, ensure that the girls’ bedroom is locked during the night…….through it all….you can never be too careful!
thanks for your information.
Am just disgusted by the nonsense of dress code having anything to do with a 2 month old baby bn defiled by its on father,cousin,uncle etc… Come on men! U need to be castrated seriously if u cant use your tools wisely. Prosititutes are everywhere willing,for crying out loud.
It is black magic at work. Either cure to HIV and AIDS or getting RICH. These are the superstitions that are fuelling this very unfortunate trend. However, we consider exempting girls aged 12-15 from the defilable catogory. i saw some girls in that age category soliciting for sex in bars in matero, kanyama, chisamba. We need better solutions to this matter other increasing jail terms. I mean, with 15 years minimum jail sentence, why is the scourge not stopping. We need to change strategy. Get all these girls in school. Sponsor all of them. Take them to boarding school. Build self- confidence in them and the NEED to refuse sexual advances. Legal solutions may not always work.
chilefwaikwafye ukulabakaka 50years jail bakaleka.
Need more sexual health talks in homes, schools and churches to children. Gone are the days of embarrassment. Need more sexual health talks amongst couples to appreciate each others sexual moves and fantasies.
Have had several sexual health sessions in five African countries with commercial sex workers (prostitutes). Never get surprised to hear how men go to those ‘homes’ and pay good money just to look at the female’s genitalia and to play with those bits without penetration. Now little girls are on the menu in those homes! It is a sick society that needs radical thinkers to help stop this animal behaviour! Ju #25 is right on the measures to be taken! What has become of man!?
i fya kutamba tamba like fi pornograph and one must be taught to become product by not enjoying beer which makes them loose their sences and dignity but to know that they disturb the growth of young ones who experience long time effect as they try to recover from that .fwe ba baana it is important that we monitor on our the are playing both during school and with what kind of people do we deligate the responsibility to look after them for us.
child defilement cases in Zambia is not rising. It was there but today people are free to report any case of these nature. in short people are free and willing to expose any case of this nature. this situation is like the strkes we are facing now. people are free to protest agaist supression and demand better conditions of services because the government has provided a conducive atmosphere for workers to demand in any related issue suppressing them. So, it is just the environment that has been changed, not the increase in child defilement.
Defilement is defilement and stiff law has to be passed against such criminal acts. we cant say dressing is not condusive on a one month old baby who still gets defiled. Surely stiff law should be put in place to deal with such offenders.A child over 7yrs will not be traumatized for only 15yrs of which the pepetrator will be apprehended. It sticks for the rest of there lives and destroys there pride and dignity!!!!!!!!!! NOT FAIR. Something really needs to be put in place to purnish such criminal offenders fairly.
I can personally call defilers as wondering snakes, who when they see bush fires coming, they get confused and do not mind which hole to enter, regardless of the size. you know the snake I am talking about and the women who dress unwell are the bush fire. women need to dress up well to stop the bush fires, whilest wondering snakes need to be kept at a distance.
thank you for your help
I personal agreed with the poor environment led to serious crime call defilement, not only in Zambia but in most African countries special South Sudan, during civil WAR and after, It result into drop-out from school. Thanks.
thank you for the knowledge.
i don’t understand. what dressing are we talking about for that little girl of 3 months or that boy of 6 months? there is no excuse for the animallistic behavior some people potray, be it rituals or remedial.
it is unbelievable what is happening in a christian nation where minors are defiled by their grandpas. people need to check their christian standing and pray to the lord for changed mind sets. it is amazing to hear people with full senses having sex with animals.
It is indeed heartening to note of all these things around us. Ok, for one going for a 2 year old, I really think they have a very big problem to the extreme. Probably those are the ones thinking they can be cleansed but that is not true at all. Acceptance is very important when things go wrong because it gives us a positive move as to what our direction can be next. But dressing does really play a part when it comes to the later ages 12, 13, 14, ……. Trust me that’s true. Ever walked into a kitchen and there’s some nice food cookin and nice aroma there? Can you with hold the nose from getting that? A BIG NO! Our society is spoiled no doubt,almost all I see on tv I see girls put on, and the fact that we don’t even have our very own culture in Zambia mamamama. PROPER DRESSING WOULD…